112 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



STEPHEN ALEXANDER 



Born, September i, 1806; died, June 25, 1883 



Stephen Alexander was born in Schenectady, New York, 

 and resided there until after his graduation from college. His 

 father, Alexander Alexander, was a successful business man in 

 Schenectady. He died when in middle life, but left his widow 

 and two young children with sufficient means to live in comfort. 

 Stephen was graduated from Union College in 1824, with high 

 honors, and immediately after began teaching. He first taught 

 in the Academy at Chittenango, New York, and later was 

 probably connected for some time with the Academy in Albany. 

 In 1832 he went to Princeton with Joseph Henry, who became 

 Professor of Natural Philosophy there in that year. Henry was 

 Stephen Alexander's first cousin and, some years later, he 

 married Harriet Alexander, Stephen's younger sister, thus mak- 

 ing a double relationship, which doubtless influenced Alex- 

 ander's life and fortunes to a considerable extent. Alexander's 

 first idea in going to Princeton to study was to prepare himself 

 for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, but in 1833 he was 

 appointed to a tutorship in the college, and thus began his forty- 

 three years' service as a member of the faculty. In 1834, he was 

 made Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, and in 1840 Professor 

 of Astronomy, which position he held until 1876, when he retired 

 as professor emeritus. 



In 1831 Alexander went to Maryland to observe the annular 

 eclipse of February 12, and ever after that time he was intensely 

 interested in such phenomena, never missing an opportunity to 

 make similar observations. Between 1831 and 1875, he observed 

 many annular eclipses, and several total eclipses. He journeyed 

 from Georgia to Labrador to view eclipses which occurred at 

 different dates, making many observations which he published 

 later in a paper entitled " Physical Phenomena Attendant upon 

 Solar Eclipses." He was not, however, a prolific writer. In 

 fact, so much of his time was taken up with the duties of his 

 professorship, that not a great deal was left for writing and 



